From Set To Reality
by waytotheend
Summary: Justin and Brian are the actors of a famous gay tv-show. While on the set they're play characters in love with each other, in real life, they can't stand each other!
1. Chapter 1

Brian tossed away his third cigarette and looked at the fake beers on the fake-bar-counter. There was nothing that he wanted more in that moment, than a cold beer or a double scotch. Sighing, he looked down at the script in his hands and frowned, asking once again to himself how was he going to tell the blond devil that he loved him. '_Every time I see you with someone else, I can feel myself dying inside_' he read the line near his character's name and felt himself like tearing the for-shit script into million tiny pieces.

"What a load of bullshit" he muttered under his breath before fishing for another cigarette in the way-too tight-jeans that the production made him wear almost every day. "How fucking stoned I was when I decided to pick up this fucking part?" he was growing more frustrated every second that passed until he saw a cigarette being shaken in front of his face. He almost smiled at his savior, but then he saw that it was no one else than the blond devil himself. "Fuck off, Blondie."

"Now now B, is that any way to talk to the love of your life?" An evil smirk spread across the angelic-looking face of his co-actor.

Brian frowned once again. "I'll say it again. Fuck off, Blondie."

Justin took a lighter from his leather pants and lighted up the cigarette that was shaking in Brian's face just a couple of seconds before. He took a deep puff and exhaled right in his co-actor's face. "You know, if you finish your only packet of cigarettes and you're in desperate need of a dose of nicotine, than you should be a little more friendly towards the person that owns a freshly bought packet of cigarettes." He gave Brian one of his most innocent-looking smile and Brian wanted nothing more than to strangle him.

"Tell me something, Blondie, did you turn making my life an utter hell the mission of your life?"

Justin took another deep puff from the cigarette and then tossed it to the ground smashing it with his booth. Brian looked at the barely smoked cigarette being thrown away and told himself that bending down and light it up again was definitely something that he shouldn't been doing.

"It's not my life-mission," his smile got bigger. "Rather my favorite free time activity."

Brian scowled at him and Justin smiled happily. "You know, we must be the greatest actors ever, because I can't really understand how in the hell there are so many people thinking that I'm fucking you in the real life when I would never come anywhere near your ass with my dick outside the set."

The blond smirked and shrugged. "Tell me something B, why are you so keen to deny the reality of the facts? It wasn't my dick hard as a rock the other day while we were pretending to fuck."

"First of all, don't fucking call me B and second, I haven't had sex in the last two weeks, I could become hard rubbing against a tree."

Out of the corner of his eye, Justin saw the producer coming their way, so he took a step forwards and gently brushed his fingers over Brian's arm, smiling seductively up at the older man. "Then go rubbing against a tree next time you feel like cuming, even if you would probably be thinking about how soft my skin his." He winked and turned his back to his co-actor and Brian noticed the producer right in time to stop himself from shouting at Justin to go fuck himself.

* * *

Brian kissed slowly Justin's neck, carefully licking the soft skin with his tongue. He could feel him trembling under his touch and smirked. Sliding lightly up, he nuzzled and bit just behind the blond's ear and felt him growing hard against his thigh.

He pulled slightly backward and stared for a moment at the blond's blissful face before attacking his mouth. There was no denying that if the scene exuded sex, was mostly because they were both a second away from coming. Brian showed his tongue in Justin's open mouth and felt the blond moan freely and trembling under his fingertips.

"CUT!" they barely heard the shout from the director and when they pulled apart, Justin looked in Brian's eyes and frowned.

"You play dirty B" he murmured still seated in Brian's lap.

The brunet smirked and "accidently" dropped his left hand between them, grabbing Justin's cock in his hand. The blond bit down on his lips trying to hold back a moan. "Now Blondie, who's the one that got hard while filming?"

Justin pressed his fingers deep in Brian's skin, making sure to leave marks on both his shoulders. "I hate you" he told him and Brian pushed him down on the floor-pillows where they were filming the scene and stretched out on top of him purposely sliding his right knee between Justin's legs.

The blond's normally pale skin, was quickly becoming red and Brian smirked once again.

"I see that you're ready for the next scene guys" They both recognized the director's voice and both decided to ignore him without even glancing away from each other's eyes. "Everybody ready! We're filming!"

Justin slid his hand in Brian's hair and pulled the brunet's head down so their lips were mere inches apart. "I love you" he whispered and looked straight into Brian's eyes. The older man was surprised to see so much hate in his eyes while he was technically declaring his love to his partner. "I want us to be together all the time, George." _'God how I hate that stupid name'_, Justin thought.

"You know that you're the love of my life. Every time I see you with someone else, I can feel myself dying inside" _'How pathetic could a guy be?'_, Brian thought.

"It's what I feel too." Justin slid his arms around Brian's neck and hugged him tightly to him. "Please, don't ever leave me, George" _'I think I'm going to puke'_, he told himself trying very hard to stay in character.

After all, even if the scripts were for shit and the whole show looked pathetic, he could at least act decently. The point was that after three years he was sick and tired of being the little blond angel of that show and he couldn't stand anymore his co-worker, Brian Kinney. He didn't even remember why in the hell they hated each other so much.

Brian was having pretty much the same thoughts but at least, having his head hidden in the crook of Justin's shoulder, provided him a good spot where he could roll his eyes freely. "I will always stay with you, Timothy" _'God I can't wait for Summer break. Two days and I will be free to go home and not see this stupid fuck until next fall.'_

Brian pulled up enough so he could have the needed space to kiss the blond's lips. When he pulled back, he indulged for a moment in the soft cherry-flavored lips of his co-worker and remembered why they couldn't stand each other.

To celebrate the first month of filming, they went to a local gay club and got themselves high. Brian had wanted to fuck Justin, but the blond had feared that if they did then things would have been strange on set and so he chose a trick over Brian and things between them had never been the same. _'Oh yeah, his little soft lips and perfect bubble butt, are the reasons why I can't stand him. I wonder what his excuse is…'_

This time, as soon as the director shouted "CUT!", Justin pushed Brian away from him and stood up retrieving his bathrobe from one of the assistants and glared at Brian one last time before disappearing through the set.

"Brian, I'm very pleased with what we've accomplished for this show. I can't wait to start working on the fourth season."

Brian barely looked at John, the director, and sighed. "How many ideas have you left?"

The old man looked at him stunned. "What you mean?"

"For how long is this pathetic show going to last?"

The director scowled at Brian wondering who he thought to be to talk this way about what had made him popular and rich. "Look, Brian, I don't see why you have to talk this way."

"Try being my stupid character for a second" he turned around, waved at his assistant, Cynthia, that came with his bathrobe. He quickly put it on and focused again on the shorter man that was his boss raising an eyebrow at him.

"Well, if you hated this show so much, you could have done like Justin."

The brunet frowned. "What do you mean?"

"He bought himself out of the contract. Said that he had had enough of being little Timothy and was going back home and didn't care about anything else. He barely compromised to film this last scene. We're going to hire someone that looks a lot like him for next season."

Brian stayed there stunned at the news. Of course Justin and him weren't friends, far from it, but he thought that his co-star was going to at least tell him that he had to start acting with another obnoxious blond in three months. "He just quit" he said in disbelief.

"Yeah" John turned his back to Brian and walked away.

"At least you're going to get rid of him" Cynthia told him, coming up behind his back. "Even if I'm not sure what's up with you two. You're both great guys when you aren't together" she stared at his friend for a long time before frowning. "Sometimes I think that it would be better if the two of you just fucked and got over it" she walked away leaving Brian standing there alone and the actor quietly murmured, "You don't even know how much you're right. If he just had let me fuck him three years ago."

Deciding that he was going to spend his last two days in Toronto to make up for lost sex, he went to his dressing room to shower and change.


	2. Chapter 2

The main attraction in the gay nightlife of Toronto was the club The Basement. From the outside, it looked nothing more than decadent and like a place where no one would ever step foot inside. However, Brian knew that first impressions were never the best ones.

When he had first met Justin, he thought that he looked beautiful and nice, which was far from the truth.

The same was for this club. He had been hanging out there for the last three years and the men inside easily made up for the threadbare look of the outside.

Making his way through the crowd, Brian went straight to the bar where the well-known bartender smiled at him. "Hey Brian! You're finally back!"

"Tom." He greeted the barman. "I was busy with that stupid show." He asked for a beer and glanced towards the dance floor.

"So, are George and Timothy going to stay together forever?"

The actor shrugged and took a sip from his beer. "Anyone interesting around here?"

Tom shook his head. "Just Justin but…" he trailed off when Brian scowled at him.

"What? Don't tell me that you're one of those pathetic losers that think that I'm fucking him for real?"

The bartender opened his mouth as to speak but was cut off. "I can assure you, Tom, that me and dear old B, are not an item and if we were" Justin looked straight into Brian's eyes before continuing, "I'd be the one doing the fucking."

"Dream on, Blondie" Brian paid for his beer and walked to the dance floor.

"Are you two ever going to act civil with each other?" Tom asked smirking, now used to their banter after three years.

Justin shrugged. "What can I say? It's funny tormenting the man."

The bartender placed a beer in front of him and smiled. "So you're really going away for good?"

"Yeah. Back home. To glorious Pittsburgh."

"If you don't like it there, then why going back? There's LA and New York and…"

"It's home" he said with a smile and for the first time in a long long time, Tom saw the young man that had gone there following his passion for the acting. "It's going to be good to just go there and be my usual self."

"You mean the non-asshole one?"

Justin laughed and nodded. "Something like that. So, do you want me to wait around for you to get off work? One last dance?"

Tom nodded. "That would be great."

The young actor quickly finished his beer and took off to the dance floor where he was going to lose himself in his favorite activity other than acting. Dancing until he could feel his head spinning and the breath catching in his throat.

It didn't take long before he felt the first pair of arms sneaking around his waist and he smirked and relaxed his back into the chest behind him grinding his ass into the stranger's crotch. Then he realized that there wasn't a lot to rub against so he quickly lost interest and danced away.

After several songs, he felt a hand on his shoulder and turned around smiling thinking that it was Tom, but found himself looking at the man that was his nemesis and the smile quickly disappeared from his face.

"What do you want?"

"Why didn't you tell me that you were quitting?" Brian inquired still somewhat annoyed that he cared so much about the blond's departure.

Justin shrugged. "Why should have I told you?"

"Because you're gonna leave me with some new obnoxious blond."

"You've survived with me, you're gonna do just well with the new one." He made a move to turn around but Brian tightened his hold on his shoulder stopping him. "Is there anything else, B?"

"What are you gonna do now?"

Justin frowned not sure if Brian's concern could be sincere. "What do you care?"

Brian dropped his hand and shrugged. "I was just asking."

"I'm just going back home."

Suddenly, Brian realized that he didn't even know where home was for the other actor and felt once again foolish for hating a man that he barely knew and that just for the sake of their job, hadn't accepted to fuck with him.

"So you can take a breath of relief, B." Justin took a step away from Brian widening the gap between them. "Because with any luck, we won't see each other ever again. Wouldn't it be awesome?" And the last question dripped with sarcasm. Something that didn't go unnoticed to Brian who raised an eyebrow studying attentively the face of the man in front of him.

"Saying it like that, you can almost make me believe that you would care."

Justin shook his head. "Don't flatter yourself, B. Next time I see your face, it would be too soon." He quickly turned his back to his now-ex-costar and disappeared through the sea of dancing men.

He pushed his way through the crowd and quickly went to the exit. He told Javier, the bouncer, to tell Tom that he had to go and that maybe some time he would come to visit him. He went outside and then stopped a cub and left. He couldn't wait to get to the flight and go home and forget that he had ever known the arrogant actor.


	3. Chapter 3

When Justin got back to his hotel room, he called his assistant, Daphne, and asked her if she had found a place for him to stay. She told him that a new loft was on the market, not far away from Liberty Avenue but in a good neighborhood, and she had put an offer on the place. Justin told her that he wanted to see the place and thanked her.

So, two days later, he was standing in the living room area of his new loft. As soon as he had seen the place, he had called Daphne and told her to contact the realtor to sign the lease.

By that afternoon, he had his own new place and felt at home for the first time in three years.

For all the time that he had been working in the TV-show, he used to live in a condo not too far away from the set and in the few months of break that they got between the end of a season and the filming of another one, he had traveled around Canada and the States. Sometimes he almost felt like some kind of a homeless and was happy that now, he would have been having his own place.

Several miles away, while Brian was getting ready to finally return home, Daphne was quickly sharing the news with Cynthia. The two women laughed, pleased with how their plan was going. They have decided a long time ago, that Brian and Justin were meant to be together and now that the blond was out of the cast of the show, they both felt that it was the right moment to start with their operation '_Get Brian and Justin Together_'.

Brian closed his suitcase and called for her assistant who came just a few minutes later. "The shippers got everything sent home?" he asked while looking around checking to see if he had forgot anything.

"Yes, Boss. I've personally checked that everything was in order. Your baggage will be home by tomorrow and what you have in your suitcase will be enough for the trip, the dinner, the club and the Diner tomorrow."

"Thanks a lot Cyn. You really are the best assistant ever." He smiled sincerely at her and Cynthia was briefly caught off guard by his kindness.

"Well, thanks Boss."

Brian picked up his suitcase and walked over to the door. "It will be nice to be gone for two whole months, don't you think?"

Cynthia nodded and smiled at her boss. "Aren't you going to miss the set?"

Brian looked at her as if she had suddenly gone crazy and vigorously shook his head. "I couldn't miss this place if my life depended on it."

"Well then, have a good break!"

***********************

The flight back home to Pittsburgh, was quiet and uneventful. A couple of guys asked Brian for his autograph but that was all. He kept an eye on the steward to see if he would have liked to join the mile-high club, but by the time the man had noticed Brian's eyes following him, they were ten minutes away from landing.

Beat, but happy to be finally in his own city, Brian hailed a cab and quickly got to his loft. After ten months, he was finally back at home and he couldn't wait to use his shower and finally be able to sleep in his own bed.

As the elevator was taking him to the top floor, he heard music coming from the loft below his.

"Looks like they finally sold it" he mumbled, hoping that maybe his neighbor was hot and above all, gay.

When he was finally standing outside the metal door of his loft, Brian sighed and smiled. He took his key and opened the door. The familiar noise of the sliding door made him finally feel finally at home. He left his suitcase by the door and walked over to the bedroom where he quickly got undressed and took a shower. He was pleased to see that the housekeeper had been keeping the loft clean and that everything looked in the right place.

After having taken a long hot shower, Brian went to bed, wanting to rest for a couple of hours before going out to a club or at the diner to see how Michael and Debbie were doing. However, when he opened his eyes again, the sun was shining right into his eyes and when he looked towards the nightstand at the clock, he saw that it was already nine in the morning. He quickly got up and got dressed to go at the diner for breakfast.

On his way to the elevator, he thought again about the new tenant of the floor below his, and wondered how long it was going to be before they could meet.

He didn't have to wonder long though. When Brian was in the elevator, it stopped just one floor down and a young man stepped inside. They looked at each other for a long time and finally, at the same instant, they both exclaimed "YOU!" and asked themselves, if they were cursed.

Brian was the first one to recover and quickly asked "What the hell are you doing here?"

"I could ask you the same thing" Justin retorted crossing his arms in front of his chest.

Brian scowled at him. "I live here."

Justin's expression quickly changed from annoyed to surprised and then to disbelief. "What?"

"What? Now you're deaf?"

"I... I live here too" he said in almost a whisper.

"Since when?"

Justin shrugged. "Since yesterday."

"So now you're following me? I thought that I had finally got rid of you."

The blond frowned and then laughed. "What? You seriously think that I moved in your building to stalk you?" The older man looked at him raising an eyebrow and Justin shook his head. "Talking about being a narcissist."

"Do you expect me to believe that you living here is just a coincidence?"

"Look Brian, you can call Daphne and ask her. She was the one that found the loft for me. I just told her that I wanted a nice place to live now that I was finally free and she did all the rest." He shook his head. "I can't believe that I'm going to have to live below you."

"Yeah well, that makes two of us." Brian extended an arm towards Justin and the blond stepped aside.

"What are you doing?"

Brian smirked. "We should get to the entrance, don't you think Blondie?" he said pressing the button to make the elevator resume its descending.

Justin glared at him before leaning against the elevator wall determinate to ignore him. He was firmly convinced that no matter if Brian lived in the same building, he wasn't gonna let the older man annoy him even outside the set.

"I can't believe that you never told me that you lived in Pittsburgh," Brian suddenly said out of the blue.

Justin looked at him. "Huh?"

"C'mon, surely you knew that I was from here."

"No."

"How is it even possible?"

"Well, you didn't know where I lived either."

Brian shook his head and rolled his lips in his mouth staring at Justin for a couple of seconds. "It's still absurd. I mean, we've been friends..."

The blond laughed at that. "Friends? For how long? One month?"

"Yeah."

"Well, why didn't you tell me?" Brian shrugged and Justin gestured his way. "See? It never came up. That's why."

"In three years we never..."

"You stopped being my friend, remember?" Justin asked coldly. "When you started ignoring me. Right after you wanted to fuck me and I rejected you."

The other man frowned and looked away. "I wasn't ignoring you."

"Right" was the sarcastic reply from Justin. "Then tell me why we stopped being friends."

"You started acting like an asshole!"

"You started it!" Justin retorted.

The elevator came to an halt and Justin quickly lift the gate and stepped outside. "I don't particularly want to resume our friendship. So don't worry about living above me because I'm not going to be in your way" and before Brian could say anything, he was gone.

Brian stayed for a long time in the elevator, staring at the spot where Justin had been standing and wondered not for the first time, if maybe, just maybe, they had done all wrong with one another.


	4. Chapter 4

It was a couple of days later when they run into each other again.

Brian was sitting in a booth in the Liberty Diner having breakfast with his friends: Michael, Ben, Emmett and Ted, when the bell over the door rang and Brian looked up. His eyes locked with Justin's and he frowned.

"And then he tells me that he's not stalking me" he quietly mumbled.

"Who's stalking you?" Michael retorted.

The actor shook his head. "Nobody."

Shrugging, Michael resumed his breakfast while Brian kept his eyes fixed on Justin's figure as he moved in the diner, smiling politely at Kiki and sitting down at the counter.

"I'm going to grab a lemon bar" Brian said to Michael and then got up from the booth, ignoring his best friend's voice behind him.

Justin was chatting with the waitress when he felt a well-known presence behind him. He chose to ignore it and smiled at Kiki. "I just got bored with that role. I want to do something different after three years."

"Well, it's just such a shame. I don't think I will keep watching it."

"Now Kiki" Brian cut in sitting down beside the blond. "What about me?"

Kiki scowled at him. "Sorry, I know all too well how big of an asshole you are in the real life, to see George as a believable character. At least, played by you." She turned his back to him and stormed off to one of the new customers.

Justin looked at Brian smirking. "I see that the list of your fans gets longer every day."

Brian ignored his statement and waved at the bus boy for a coffee. "You said that you weren't following me."

"And I'm not. What gave you that impression?"

The older man looked around and then back at him. "First you come living under me…"

"I told you that it was just a coincidence…"

"And now you come here…"

Justin looked at him confused. "Do you really believe that I'm here just because you are?" The blond laughed and shook his head. "You're more narcissistic than I thought. How was I supposed to know that you come here? It's the first time ever that I set foot inside here and I can assure you that it was just because I was hungry."

They look at each other in silence for several minutes and were interrupted by Debbie, who came over to them placing the coffee pot down loudly on the counter. She looked between Justin and Brian and frowned. "Is he molesting you, Sunshine?"

Justin looked at the red-haired waitress confused. "Sunshine?"

She nodded and glared at Brian. "Finally back in town asshole."

"Hello to you too, Deb" he said with pretended sweetness in his voice. "It's been a while."

"Yeah because you can't get away from that fancy job of yours once in a while."

Justin looked between Brian and Debbie and wondered which could be the connection between them.

"Blondie, meet Debbie. If you're planning to stay around here, you're going to see her a lot."

Deb pinched his cheek and smiled. "Nice to meet you, Sunshine," she then looked back at Brian. "Go introduce him to the guys."

"Of course, Mom" he said playfully. He put down his cup and stood up, looking at Justin and raising and eyebrow. "So, coming?"

"Where?"

"To meet the boys." Brian didn't wait for an answer but took hold of Justin's jacket and pulled him towards the booth where the guys were having breakfast. When they reached it, Brian cleared his throat to catch their attentions and then smiled. "Boys and girls, meet Justin Taylor."

Emmett clapped his hands smiling widely. "Oh my God! It's Timothy!"

Justin winced at the mention of that stupid name. "I'm Justin" he hated being rude with people, but he also hated been mistaken for a fictional character.

Em seemed to recompose himself. "Sure, sorry. I'm Emmett and these are Michael, Ben and Ted. We're Brian's friends."

"Oh so you actually have friends, B?" the blond asked smirking at Brian who flipped at him the bird.

"Very nice, Blondie."

"Oh we like Justin!" Michael said smiling at the two men. He could sense some sort of tension between them and wondered if maybe the rumors were true and they were really fucking.

Ben smiled at Justin. "Why don't you seat down and have breakfast with us? I'm sure that Brian doesn't mind" he added looking at the brunet smiling. For a moment, Brian thought that he wasn't anymore Zen Ben, Emmett's calm cousin that they knew and loved, but some sort of a Michael's copy with way too many muscles and without the superman t-shirt.

Justin looked at Brian and bit down on his lower lip. Sure he hated the man and wanted to irritate him, but imposing his presence while he was with his friends, was something entirely different. Taking a decision, he shook his head. "Sorry I have to leave. I have to go shopping for the house I've just bought. I need some furniture and stuff like that," he said shrugging. "But it was nice meeting you."

Brian stared at him in some sort of disbelief. He was sure that the blond was going to say yes just to annoy the fuck out of him. He was surprised to see him turning down the offer with a gentle smile.

"You can stay," he found himself blurting out without thinking.

Justin looked at him confused and then frowned. "No I really have to do" he said. He turned his attention back to the gang and smiled. "But maybe we could hang out together. It's been a while since I've been back home, and I need to catch up on what's new to do in town."

Emmett clapped his hands. "I'd be delighted to help you out! There's Babylon, which is the hottest club in town. It re-opened recently. You could come with us on Saturday."

Justin nodded. "It would be great. Now I really have to get going." He quickly said goodbye to everyone and walked out of the diner.

As soon as he was standing outside, he pulled a cigarette out from his jacket and put it in between his lips, patting his jacket's pockets looking for a lighter. "Fuck," he hissed when he wasn't able to find it.

He was about to pull the cigarette out and put it back in the packet, when a lighter was pushed under his nose. "Here."

Justin looked up, into Brian's eyes and nodded his thank before grabbing the lighter. When he had the cigarette lighted up, he gave the lighter back and took a deep puff from it. "What are you doing out here?"

Brian shrugged and took Justin's cigarette from his fingers. The blond didn't say anything, it was a natural gesture for both of them. They had frequently did that same thing while filming.

"Were you trying to be nice?" Brian asked, passing the cigarette back.

Justin nodded. "I didn't want to impose my presence."

The brunet snorted. "Since when do you care anyway?"

They looked at each other in the eyes for a long time and finally Justin shrugged. "I was just trying not to piss you off. Next time, I will say yes so you will be able to bitch about it." He passed the cigarette to Brian and turned his back to him.

"Wait!" Brian called for him and Justin turned around.

"What?"

"I guess you will be around a lot, right?" The annoyance was clear in his voice and Justin opened and closed his mouth a couple of times. He wanted to tell him to fuck off, but he knew that he was the stupid one thinking that out of the set, knowing that probably they weren't going to work together again for the rest of their lives, they could have been at least polite to each other.

"Don't worry up, B. I told you," he said smiling. "I won't get in your way." He turned around and left before Brian could say anything.

The older man stayed on the sidewalk staring after him. Then he tossed away the cigarette and made his way back inside the diner.

"He's hot," was the first thing that Michael told him and Brian barely nodded.

"Even more than on TV," Ted added. "Do you think he would accept to appear on my website?"

Brian glared at him. "He's famous you know. A good actor. The last thing he needs, it's to be on a second-rate porn site." He threw some bills on the table and stood up once again.

Michael followed him and caught up with him just before Brian reached his jeep. "What's up with you?"

"Nothing is up, Mikey."

"You seems a bit… I don't know," he said shrugging. "Not yourself."

Brian looked away and sighed. "I'm fine."

"Ok," Mikey said nodding. "It's good to have you back home."

"Yeah…"

"How long are you going to stick around?"

Brian shrugged. "I don't know. I hope not too long."

Michael frowned. "What you mean?"

"Nothing. So, I'll see you tomorrow at Babylon," he said, climbing inside the jeep and turning on the engine.

"Tomorrow? What about today?"

"You will have to play alone, Mikey. I want to spend a day at home before starting the old routine all over again." And with that said, he pulled off from the curb and drove away.


	5. Chapter 5

After a couple of weeks, Brian found out just how serious Justin was by telling him that he wasn't going to be in his way.

He hadn't seen the blond since that day at the Diner. He had asked Michael if he had showed up at Woody's when he said he would, but Mikey told him no.

The only one who seemed to see Justin frequently was Emmett, but Brian wasn't about to ask him anything about the blond.

He was close to going down to the loft below his with an excuse to see how Justin was doing; unnerved that he cared about not seeing him. It was just that after three years spent together every day it felt weird not to have him around. Plus, if he was honest with himself, he had to admit that he was getting bored without having Justin around teasing him.

Finally he decided that the best course of action was to go somewhere else for his vacation. Perhaps putting distance between them was going to do the trick and the blond would finally leave his thoughts.

As he was thinking about where he was going to go, the source of his problems showed up.

Just like that first day they met in the elevator Justin looked at him and nodded his greeting before leaning against the wall and putting his headphones on.

Brian studied him intently taking advantage of the fact that Justin had his eyes closed. He wondered if he was the only one being affected by the other's presence. He wanted nothing more than Justin begging him to take him.

He wanted the reason why the blond was in the same building to be that he wanted Brian. But he knew that it was just wishful thinking.

"Stop staring at me," Justin suddenly said and Brian found himself looking into deep blue eyes.

"I wasn't…"

"Whatever flows your boat," Justin cut him off.

Brian frowned. "Look Blondie…"

The younger man sighed and took off his headphones. "Can we just try being civil around each other? We aren't working together anymore, so there's no need to keep on going the way we did for the last three years."

Brian opened and closed his mouth a couple of times and was ready to say something when the elevator came to a stop.

The blond looked at him expectantly and then sighed.

"Just let me know." He turned around ready to leave but felt Brian gently grabbing his elbow. He looked at him. "What?"

"I'm not sure I'd be able to do that," the brunet answered sincerely. "But I guess we could try. Wanna go grab a coffee?" he asked reluctantly.

Justin studied him intently, wondering if he could trust the older man or if maybe it was just another one of his jokes. "Are you serious?" he finally asked.

Brian sighed and nodded taking a step back and releasing the hold he had on the blond's arm. He walked over to the building's door and held it open for Justin.

Still not totally sure about Brian's true intentions, Justin warily walked out of the building and started going down the street. Soon Brian was walking next to him. They walked in silence until they reached the café at the end of the street. Once they got their cups of coffee, they resumed their walk still in silence and headed to the park.

When they finally arrived to the park Brian went to sit down on a bench near the lake and waited for Justin to do the same. He smiled a little when he saw that the blond chose to sit at the far end of the bench.

"Worried that I'm gonna try stealing your virtue, Goldilocks?"

And despite himself Justin smiled back at him sighing.

"I was thinking about going somewhere else for the summer…" Brian continued.

"What?"

"I don't…"

"Want me around? I know" Justin slumped his shoulders sighing. "There's really no need to waste your money. I told you that I would stay out of your way and I did. Besides, in a month you will head back to Toronto and we won't see each other again at least until Christmas."

Brian studied his expression for a few seconds and then nodded. "Ok, I will stay."

"Good," Justin was suddenly very nervous. "I really need to tell you something."

"Go ahead."

The blond took a deep breath before starting to speak. "I'm not really sure why I can't stand you and I'm not sure why I want to try to make things right, I just know that I do," he quietly said.

Brian nodded and took a sip from his coffee. "You can't stand me because I'm an asshole to you. I tried to fuck you..."

"Yeah that's true but I know for sure that if it wasn't you, I would have forgiven the person ages ago." Justin looked up from his coffee frowning and studied Brian's face.

Sensing the younger man's gaze upon him, Brian looked up and quirked an eyebrow. "What?"

"I really don't know why I act the way I do when I'm around you."

The brunette laughed. "Maybe I just make you nervous so you have to be an asshole in order to prevent your feelings from showing."

Justin smirked arching an eyebrow. "Is that so?"

"I was making an assumption," Brian replied smirking back at the blond.

They drank the rest of their coffees in silence until Justin finally found the nerve to ask what he had been thinking for years now. '_Maybe I'm just fucking crazy_' he told himself.

"This is going to sound strange," he muttered under his breath but loud enough to catch Brian's attention. "Could we... you know... try to be friends?"

Brian looked at him stunned. "What?"

"Yeah..." Justin looked away for a second and then back in the hazel eyes in front of him. "I mean, I really need a friend right now..."

"I want to fuck you." Brian interrupted firmly.

_'It's not like we don't already know this, because I made it pretty clear, but I want him to know that it's not going to change...'_ he thought.

Justin smirked.

"Really? You still wanna fuck me, B?" Justin smiled his sunshiny smile full force.

"Twat," Brian smiled back.

"So we can't be friends because you want to fuck me?"

"I don't fuck my friends," the older man answered shrugging.

Justin just shook his head. "You're probably right... However, I have had friends that wanted to fuck before, so it doesn't matter. You're just another one."

And now Brian was confused. "I don't get it... if they wanted to fuck you and now they're not your friends anymore and I want to fuck you, our possible friendship seems doomed. And if so why did you even propose it?"

"Because I need someone who always tells the truth. I don't need people saying that everything is going to be ok, that I'm going to find the right one. I need someone that will tell me '_Stop whining and fuck off`'_ if I`m acting like twat" he looked down at his hands. "Now that I'm not filming anymore, I'm going to lose Daphne because she's staying in Toronto as long as the show runs and she was the only one always ready to call me on my bullshit. I need someone brutally honest."

"And you think that I'm all this?"

"Yeah. You don't care if you hurt someone or not," and the way Justin said that almost made it sound like a compliment to Brian's ears.

"Really?" he challenged.

The younger man shrugged. "You have told me that I'm a rude little shit, that I'm spoiled, that I'm a brat. You're honest with me every time... Would you tell me to fuck off?"

Brian looked at him trying to see if he was serious and then he started laughing. "Sure. Fuck off!"

A small smile crept on Justin's face. "Good. Now, will you be my friend, Brian?"

The older man rolled his lips into his mouth and studied the younger man in front of him attentively. "You're strange."

"I know."

"Ok... I'm not sure how it's going to work because I still want to fuck you, but we could give a try to this friendship thing."

Justin nodded and then got up from the bench. "Thanks Brian."

"It's nothing," he answered getting up as well and looking around the park.

They stayed in silence for a couple of seconds and then Justin cleared his throat. "So, I'm going home now."

"`kay."

"Later" he whispered before walking away.

Brian stayed there staring at Justin as long as he could see him and then sighed. "Later Sunshine."

'_What the hell am I putting myself into?_' he asked himself.

"I'd fuck me," Brian said smirking and looking at his own reflection in the mirror. He had put on his tightest black jeans and a silk black shirt. He was dressed to haunt and had every intentions to fuck his night away at Babylon. Some sort of statement to let the city know that the Stud is back in town.

He picked up his keys, quickly put the alarm on and left his loft. In the elevator he met up with Justin.

The blond was wearing a white t-shirt and tight blue jeans that made him look way younger than his twenty-five years. His blond hair had been cut and he had it them sticking up in messy spikes.

"You look like a fucking teenager," Brian said smirking.

Justin smiled up at him and nodded. "I know. I'm trying the twink look for my first night in Pittsburgh`s club scene."

Almost a week had passed since they had that conversation about being friends and – what a surprise - they had found out that it was easier than they had originally thought.

Justin an a hand through his hair. "I went to have it haircut yesterday," he looked into Brian's eyes, "You think I look good?"

Brian nodded and smirked. "If you don't be careful you will end up with a big brutal top trying to get into your pants within two minutes you're in the club."

The blond smirked. "That's the plan."

The elevator stopped and they got out together. "Need a lift?" Brian asked.

Justin shook his head. "I will take a cab."

"Nonsense." He opened the door and let Justin got out first. "So, your plan is to be a little boy toy?" he asked as soon as they were in the jeep.

The blond shook his head and looked out of the car window. The older man turned the ignition on and started driving towards Babylon.

"I plan to act like a little twink and find myself a brutal top that I will turn into a little bottom boy for me," he smirked saying it and looked towards Brian.

The brunet smiled. "Sure of yourself, aren't you?"

"I just know how good I am," he answered shrugging.

They drove the rest of the way to Babylon in silence and when they got there the bouncer quickly let them inside.

"Brian, nice to have you back," the big black man greeted him.

"It's good to be back, Neal, thanks."

As soon as they were inside, Justin headed towards the bar leaving Brian behind to follow him.

He waved to the bartender and ordered a shot of vodka and margarita while Brian asked for a double JB.

They stayed by the bar sipping their drinks and looking at the dance floor.

About an hour later, when they were both ready to start looking for the tricks, Michal, Ted, Emmett and Ben showed up.

They did small talk and after a while Brian noticed that Justin wasn't anywhere in sight.

"He went to the backroom," Michael yelled over the music to be heard.

"Surprised you're not there yourself," Emmett said sipping his Cosmo.

Brian smirked and grabbed the first good looking man that crossed his path and made his way to the backroom.

He walked inside and looked around, telling himself that it was just to find the perfect spot but knowing that the real reason was to see Justin. When he finally found him, he felt himself growing impossibly hard.

Justin was kissing passionately a man twice his size, a well-known top. Brian stood there transfixed by the sight. The contrast between the pale skin of Justin and the black one of his trick was stunning.

"Are we going to fuck or what?" his trick asked Brian. He nodded and took a spot against the wall, from where he could easily see Justin.

The trick quickly got on his knees and unzipped Brian's pants, taking his dick out and starting to suck him off. But Brian's eyes were glued to the blond beauty that was currently turning his trick to face the wall. He whispered something in the black man's ear and the trick nodded vigorously.

Justin quickly put the condom on and prepared the trick and then pushed inside in one smooth thrust. It was then that he felt a pair of eyes on him. He turned his head to the right and his eyes locked with Brian's.

His gaze traveled from the blissful face of the brunet to where the trick was sucking him off and unconsciously moaned and started thrusting hard and fast into his trick's ass who was moaning uncontrollably.

Justin and Brian reached the orgasm in the same moment, with their eyes still glued to the other.

The blond was the fist one to recover. He pulled out of the trick and tossed away the condom. In a record time, he had zipped up his jeans and was back at the bar.

"Quite a show you put on the other night," Brian said as soon as Justin had his door opened.

It was two days later their first night at Babylon and still without knowing why, Justin had decided to avoid him. When he couldn't take it anymore, Brian had decided that he was going to talk to the blond no matter what. And this was the reason why he was standing outside the younger man's loft at eight in the morning.

"What are you doing here? It's fucking dawn," Justin whined.

Brian huffed a laugh and pushed him aside stepping inside and closing the door behind him.

"Well, come on in," said the blond sarcastically. "Bri..."

The brunet looked around the neat loft, studying every detail. Finally, he turned around, now facing Justin. "First of all, it's not dawn, it's eight thirty and why have you been avoiding me?"

"I haven't been avoiding you," he replied walking over to the kitchen counter and starting the coffee machine. "I just have been busy."

"Really?" Brian asked sitting down on one of the stools.

"Yeah really."

They spent several seconds in silence. Justin acting like Brian wasn't even there and the brunet just studying the blond's every move. "You've been avoiding me since that night at Babylon," he finally said.

Justin rolled his eyes, turning around and crossing his arms over his chest. "I haven't. Believe it or not, I do have a life..."

"Whatever..."

"Coffee?" the blond asked and Brian merely nodded before getting up and walking over to the CD collection. "Brian, seriously, are you here just for snooping around?" Justin asked handing over a cup of hot coffee.

The brunet shook his head. "I wanted to see why in the hell you had disappeared from the face of earth."

"Drama Queen," Justin muttered under his breath, turning around and walking to his bedroom. "I'm going to get dressed and then I will give you my time schedule for the next month, happy?"

Brian glared at his back still sipping his coffee. "You're one annoying brat."

"Whatever, B."

While Justin was standing in front of his closet, Brian was leaning against the door frame. Cup of coffee in his hands and his eyes fixed on the short blond. He noticed the way the blond hair was sticking up in every direction and the black sweaters were hanging low around the slim waist.

He smirked, thinking that in this way, the same blond that had been so annoying and irritating in the last three years, was now looking almost adorable. _'Well, adorable in a sexy way,'_ he said to himself.

"Seeing anything that you like?"

Suddenly, Brian realized that he had been busted and locked his eyes with a pair of amused blue ones.

He scoffed and sipped his now cold coffee. "I wasn't..."

Justin rolled his eyes and Brian sighed. "You should try to be more subtle," he told the older man while taking a red t-shirt and a pair of black jeans from the closet. He turned around giving his back to Brian and quickly got off of his sweaters and started pulling on his jeans.

The older man tried hard to look away and was pretty sure that the blond was doing it on purpose.

"I'm not," he answered as if reading Brian's thoughts. "It's just that we've been pretending to fuck for the last three years. You've already seen me naked plenty of time..." he turned around looking straight into the hazel eyes staring at him and smiled before putting on his t-shirt. "What's one more?"

Brian didn't say anything but just nodded before turning around and walking back to the kitchen area. He put down his cup and walked over to the door. He stopped and looked back at Justin bedroom's door and found the blond leaning against it with his arms crossed over his chest.

"I... Would you like to have breakfast with me?" he blurted out.

Justin looked at him for a couple of seconds before smiling at him and nodding. "Let's go," he said walking back into his bedroom and coming out with a pair of Converse in his hands.

"So, let me get this straight," Brian said around a mouthful of hot-dog, "You became an actor so you could be anyone you wanted to be?"

Justin smiled up at Brian and nodded before taking a bite from his hot-dog. "Exactly. I can be a million different people. I love it."

"And what about when you just want to be yourself?"

The blond shrugged. "I just stop acting."

Brian nodded before looking to left and right and crossing the street with Justin. "I don't think it's that simple."

Justin wrinkled up his nose. "What?"

"Stop acting... pretending." He scrunched up the wrapping of the hot-dog and tossed it in a near-by basket.

"Really?"

Brian looked down into the clear blue eyes and smiled. "I bet you find it absurd."

"Yeah I do. I mean when I'm not on the set, there are times when I'm practically bipolar, but even then, I'm always myself. It's complicated to explain."

"So when you're an asshole, it's the real you?"

Justin laughed. "Yes or at least, part of me."

"First!" Justin shouted slamming the shot of vodka on the bar counter, turning around and looking up at Brian with amusement clear in his eyes.

"How come you're so small but can hold the alcohol liquor better than me?" the older man asked annoyed.

The blond just shrugged and waved at the bartender for another drink. "I'm just better."

Brian was about to reply, when a guy came over to them and smiled nervously at Justin.

"Hi," he said tentatively.

Brian saw Justin put on a smile that was so fake; he asked himself how that guy could not notice.

"Hey there," he answered quickly before pushing a shot towards the older actor and downing his own in one gulp.

"I was wondering if you would like to have a dance. I am a big fan of yours," the guy said excited. "I jerk off thinking about you."

Brian huffed a laugh and Justin looked at the guy strangely. "Is it a way of saying that you like me?" he asked confused.

The guy blushed and nodded. "Yeah, kind of. You're hot."

Justin smirked. "That, I know."

Brian looked between his blond friend and the guy and felt a sort of jealousy rising inside him when he noticed the way in which they were looking at each other. The pick-up line was lame and so was the guy, but the brunet knew that Justin was going to fuck him anyway and that bothered him in the ways that he wasn't ready to define yet.

"I'm going to find a trick," he said before turning his back to the blond. He heard him calling his name but ignored it walking between the dancing men trying to find someone that who could hold his interest for more than five seconds. 

Finally he found a guy a little shorter than him, blond and build and decided that he was going to do for the night. Unconsciously, he looked around the dance floor looking for Justin and when he didn't find him and his fan there, he sighed knowing exactly where the blond was in that moment.

Justin looked towards the dance floor and scanned the crow in search of his friend. It didn't take long to find him and he felt himself growing disappointed.

'_Sometimes I wonder what the hell goes through his mind_,' he said to himself before picking up his cocktail and turning his back to the dance floor.

He had to admit that for a moment the thought crossed his mind of actually fucking the guy that had come up to him, but when he heard Brian say that he was going to find himself a trick, the idea of fucking his fan, lost all its fun.

And he didn't understand what he was feeling. He knew that somewhere inside him the answer to the nights spent dreaming about the brunet and the uneasy feeling that crept inside him at seeing him act like a slut, had a reason, but he was unwilling and unready to recognize it for what it was.

"Hey Justin," someone said from behind him.

He turned around and found the smiling face of Michael in front of him. "Hey, Michael."

"Where's Brian?" he asked while ordering a beer.

Justin shrugged. "He went out dancing a while ago."

"So he's in the backroom now," Mikey said nodding to himself. "Typical. How is he on the set?"

The blond smirked turning his whole attention to the man. "He's an asshole. He acts like a fucking diva. At first I thought it was just with me that he was being such a shit but then I noticed that it was pretty much with everyone."

Michael laughed. "He has always been this way on the work place. Before he started acting and was working at the Liberty Diner to pay his student fees, he used to be a shit to everyone, looking at them like they were nothing compared to him. When he stopped working there, he just used that same attitude while acting. I sometimes wonder how in the hell people put up with him for such a long time."

Justin nodded in understanding and found himself curious to have an insight on what Brian was really like in the real life. "And how is he as a friend?"

"The best but only if you understand how he works," Michael smiled at the blond. "He's a bit of an asshole with everyone but sometimes he just does that to cover up for his true self. And if he was to know that I was talking like this about him with you, he would probably kill me," he said before taking a sip of his beer.

The blond turned his back to the dance floor and Michael and started shredding the cocktail's napkin in little pieces lost in thoughts. He tried to think about Brian through Michael's eyes and realized how even in the short period of time that they've been friends, there had been a couple of times when Brian had been even nice with him.

This thought made him smile and Michael, who was staring at him, smirked. "He likes you too."

Pulled away from his thoughts, Justin looked back at Michael frowning. "What do you mean?"

"I can't believe that after three years spent as lovers you two are totally unattracted to each other."

The blond rolled his eyes. "It was just acting."

"I saw the way he looks at you when he thinks no one is watching. It's actually cute."

"Stop it," he told him laughing. "We are in real life here. Where I'm not Timothy - hopelessly in love with George. And where he's a complete asshole to me."

"Everyone thinks that you two are going to end up married or something," Michael said smiling and taking a step closer to Justin.

"We are not," the actor said shaking his head vigorously. "In a couple of weeks he'd be gone and by the time Christmas rolls around we will be practically strangers."

"So you left the set before what you're feeling could go from set to reality?"

Justin was actually taken aback from that question and tried to cover up quickly but unfortunately for him, Michael saw it.

"It wasn't like that," he said looking away.

"Ok, then what do you say about having dinner with me?"

The blond quickly turned his head around looking completely shocked at the older man. "What?"

"You heard me," Michael became suddenly serious and took another step closer to the blond but Justin took one back.

"I can't."

"Why?"

The actor shook his head and only repeated, "I can't" once again before disappearing into the crowd.

Michael stared at his retreating form and sighed shaking his head. "When the hell are they going to see the truth?" he asked to no one in particular before taking a final sip of his beer and calling Ben on the cell phone.

Three days later Justin and Brian were still avoiding each other. Brian felt ridiculous for being angry at Justin for tricking and Justin was simply too confused to talk to the other man so they were just "giving themselves space to think".

Finally, after almost a week, Justin couldn't stand that situation anymore and decided to pay his neighbor a visit.

It was rather early for a Sunday morning and Justin wasn't sure that Brian was going to be up at eight in the morning but before he could once again change his mind, he was knocking on the heavy metal door with a container full of donuts and two cups of hot coffee in his hands.

When the brunet finally opened the door, he was naked and his hair was ruffled.

Without a real reason, Justin closed his eyes and blushed. Brian smirked.

"You can open your eyes little child, I don't think there is anything left that you haven't already seen."

Justin huffed a nervous laugh and pushed his way inside the loft. "Do you always open the door naked?"

"I knew that it was you," the older man replied yawing.

"How?" the blond asked while placing the breakfast on the kitchen counter.

"Because no one else is so stupid to wake me up this early on Sunday."

"And the fact that you knew it was me gave you the idea that opening the door naked wasn't going to bother me?"

Again, Brian smirked and sat down on one of the stools. "As I said, nothing you haven't seen before."

Justin glared at him before handing him one of the cups of coffee. "I brought breakfast."

"I can see that," Brian answered accepting the coffee. "What I can't understand is what the fuck are you doing here so early."

"Drink your coffee and then we can talk," the blond told him in an authoritarian voice.

The brunet arched an eyebrow and put down his cup. "What is it so urgent that you are here this early?"

Justin shrugged and sat down on one of the stools. "I just thought we need to talk."

"And why is that?"

The blond sighed. He was sure that the sarcastic tone and the coldness weren't good signs. "Look, we can't just keep avoiding each other every time something is bothering us. Now, you can be mature enough and talk to me, or we can just say 'fuck it' and never talk to each other again."

Time ticked by as Justin waited for his answer. He was starting to get frustrated by the second. Finally, he shook his head and held up his hands in surrender. "I shouldn't be surprise, right?" He got off from the stool and started walking towards the loft's door. His hand was already on the handle when Brian called out to him.

"I just don't like to talk about this shit."

The blond rolled his eyes and sighed before turning around, locking his gaze with the hazel eyes of the other actor. "Yeah, no kidding." He took a step closer. "I just don't understand what the hell is happening. The other night you looked almost jealous."

Brian snorted. "Fuck off. I don't do jealous."

'_So predictable_,' the blond thought. Before he could think of anything else to say, he found himself lying just to provoke the older man. "Michael asked me out when we were at Babylon the other night." Brian frowned and Justin could swear he saw him clenching his fists. "I was thinking of maybe accepting…"

Taken aback, Brian got up from the stool and looked sternly at the blond. "Stay the fuck away from Michael!" And he felt so stupid for saying that because he wasn't jealous of Michael and he didn't want to be jealous of Justin. He knew that he didn't have reasons to say that to the blond, but found it impossible to keep his mouth shut. He was even afraid of saying something so stupid like that they can`t be friends anymore because he knew himself well enough to know what a bastard he could be sometimes.

Justin arched an eyebrow and crossed his arms over of his chest. "Are you his boyfriend?" he asked sarcastically.

"He's my best friend," retorted Brian.

"Yeah and? So he's not your boyfriend," he took a step forwards, "and you're not _my_ boyfriend. Why should I care of what you say? It's so not your business."

"Well, it's my business because you're a worthless whore and he's my best friend and he deserves so much more than you!" he spat angrily. He felt sick as soon as he had said those things. The proverbial point of no return was there and he had just crossed it. Objectively, he knew that he was being a colossal asshole, but he couldn't stop.

Justin took a step back as if he had been physically hurt. He laughed bitterly. "Well, thank you so much Brian. It's always nice to know what people really think about you."

He didn't spear a second glance to his now ex-friend as he walked out of the loft.


	6. Chapter 6

Brian had just gone to sleep for a few hours when a loud knocking echoed through the Loft waking him up. He opened one eye and glanced at the clock where the green digits said it was 3.45. He rubbed a hand over his eyes and sighed while getting out of the bed, got in the first pair of pants he found and then walked over to the door and slid it open.

"This better be good Mik..." he trailed off when he finally noticed that it was Justin standing on the other side of the door and not his best friend.

"What are you doing here?"

The blond shrugged and made his way inside. "I need someone who won't let me drown in my self-pity."

And as soon as words were out of his mouth, he pushed Brian up against the still opened door and started kissing him. His lips were aggressive against Brian's and there were more teeth than necessary.

Justin`s mouth tasted of alcohol that the actor had spent the night drinking. All that made it more a clumsy-kiss than a super-hot-kiss you'd see in a movie.

Brian on his part was confused; he had called Justin a worthless whore and now here he was kissing him like if his life depended on it. And ignoring the urge to do what he'd normally do in case someone was rubbing against him like that and being as hot as Justin, he put his hands flat on the younger man chest and pushed him away. Justin staggered backwards and looked up at Brian confused.

"What the hell happened?" Brian asked closing the door.

"I..." Justin diverted his gaze and shoved his hands in his hair sighing.

"I went to see my mother and my father was there," he looked up and locked his gaze with Brian's. "They didn't know what I was doing. I mean, they knew I was acting in a TV-show but they didn't know what it was about." He trailed off walking over to the sofa and sat down.

"Let me guess, they found out and weren't so happy to know that their son was playing the queer on national TV."

The blond gave a humorless laugh. "You think? My father didn't even let me come inside. Said something like'_I don't care if you're famous. The fact that you wanted to act was bad enough but being a faggot on the national television and dishonoring your family is unacceptable_' and then closed the door in my face." He shook his head. "You should have seen the vein on his neck. I thought it was going to explode," he chuckled like a small child.

Brian sat down next to him and turned Justin to face him even though the blond was looking at the carpet. "Why did you come here? After what I said I was sure you wouldn't come back."

Justin shrugged. "I've been away from here for too long. I don't have friends. You were the only option I had."

"Geez you sure know how to sweet talk a guy."

Justin arched an eyebrow and looked up at him. "Do you want to be sweet-talked?"

Brian grinned but didn't answer. "I guess I should apologize?" He said instead.

"What would it change? What's said it's said and you meant it in that moment and I hate when people apologize for doing something they want to do."

"Yeah that's what I think too." He sighed and glanced away. "But still - what are you doing here? I mean if you have to talk about your feelings, I'm probably not the right person. You could ring Daphne."

"Don't worry I won't drag you into a chick-flick moment. I'm sorry if I woke you up, Brian and..." he cleared his throat uncomfortable. "I really thought that this friendship thing could work out but now I'm not so sure." He frowned. "You know, I can't really remember why we started fighting."

Brian laughed and looked at Justin mischievously. "It's because you didn't want to fall for the Kinney charm and it was the first time that something like that happened to me."

"What do you mean that I wouldn't fall for your charm?" Justin frowned.

Brian looked away. "Remember, we were out one night. It was not long after we started shooting and I tried to fuck you but you refused, said something like that it wouldn't be wise since we were working together. So I started to act like an asshole and you just kind of returned the favor. Guess it's entirely my fault."

Justin looked at him for a while searching for something. Finally he nodded. "So if I get it right, we act like children towards each other because we didn't fuck," he stated and Brian just nodded.

"Pretty much."

"It's bloody pathetic," the blond added chuckling.

"Guess so," Brian sighed and looked straight into Justin's blue eyes. "Listen, you really shouldn't listen to what your parents say. It's your life, your career, so," he shrugged, "it doesn't really matter what they think. What we did, the roles that we played, it helped some people. So I say fuck it! It was worth it."

Justin smiled softly at him. "Can't believe you just said that," he said sliding closer to the older man. "Turns out you don't just look old, you actually are old enough to be wise from time to time."

"Hey, watch it little shit!" Brian said grabbing Justin's wrist that was traveling up his thigh and using it to pull Justin closer. "Are you really going to go out with Michael?" he asked suddenly serious, his voice husky and his breath warm against the blonde's lips.

"Nope. I was just trying to piss you off."

"I'm so not surprised."

And it was true; he wasn't surprised to find out that Justin was just playing with him, but he was surprised by the fact that he actually cared, that he would have been jealous if they were to go out together for real.

He pushed those thoughts out of his mind and brought their mouths together. It wasn't as sloppy and clumsy as the kiss they had shared just half a hour before, and even though the pink blush of his cheeks made quite clear that Justin was still drunk, Brian didn't particularly care at that moment.

It wasn't the first time they kissed like that, lazily exploring each other's mouths, taking the time to stroke their tongues together and grab at each other; but it was the first time they were kissing like that outside the set, without the entire crew surrounding them. For the first time, they were doing something intimate without an audience and for a brief, frightening moment they realized that they could actually grow to enjoy this.

Justin was the first one to pull back, his fingers still stroking Brian's nape. "I didn't tell you that I was leaving because I really thought you wouldn't care. In fact, I thought you wouldn't even notice."

"Please, I'd had eventually realized that the little shit I used to argue with had gone missing."

"I'm sure my replacement is going to be great," the blond said starting to withdraw from the older man's embrace. "Maybe he'll let you fuck him so you'll actually be able to get along well."

"I don't have to fuck someone in order to get along," Brian said slightly offended.

Justin chuckled before sobering up instantly. "I have to tell you something."

Brian arched an eyebrow. "What?"

"I've found an amazing place that I'm going to buy soon. When you'll be back for Christmas, I'll be long gone." Justin smiled sincerely at Brian. He was happy to make a new start away from everyone he knew. He wanted to change his life and this was a good chance to start over.

"I've already told you that you don't have to move away, Justin." Brian got up from the sofa and took a couple of steps away.

"I'm not doing it because I don't want to piss you off, Brian," Justin said rolling his eyes. "I just want to get a new place, bigger and outside of the city." He shrugged. "That's all."

"I don't actually believe that it's the whole truth."

"Well, since we're in confession-mood and I'm quite drunk so I won't be able to tell myself to shut the fuck up..." He trailed off and got up as well. "It's because before we had our little fall out that I don't really remember..."

"We were wasted. I'm surprised I remember it," Brian cut him off.

"Anyway before all that, I had a crush on you and I kind of want to start over, so in order to do that, I need to get away for a little while at least, before it gets too much."

"Start over?" Brian asked sarcastically, but before he could say anything else, Justin pushed him down back on the sofa and straddled his lap.

"What the hell you think you're doing?" Brian hissed but his discomfort ended as soon as Justin started grinding his groin into Brian's. "Jus..." his breath caught in a moan and his hands closed tightly on the younger man's hips.

"George, one last fuck for good ol` time's sake?" Justin whispered against his lips before closing the gap and assaulting his mouth. He sucked Brian's lower lip between his teeth and broke away with a moan when the older man's fingers made their way under his jumper.

"You're drunk."

"Not so much, no," Justin whispered breathless. "I just needed the courage to come over and do this because I kind of hated you for what you told me, but I also kind of needed you tonight and so I came over."

Brian pushed his hips up and they both moaned. "If you want me to fuck you, then why did you just call me George?"

He wasn't even sure why he had asked, but he wasn't going to fuck Justin if he was so drunk that he called him George and didn't notice.

The younger actor pulled away and slid down until he was kneeled on the floor between Brian's open thighs.

"Because George and Timothy have less issues than us," he shrugged while his hands slowly made their way towards the waistband of Brian's sweatpants. "So let's pretend to be them and happy together."

His cold fingers got hold of the waistband and pulled down the sweats low enough to have the head of Brian's cock bouncing out. He grinned up at the older man while licking his lips. "No underwear?" Justin grinned.

"I sleep naked and I thought it was Mikey at the door so I threw on the first thing I found and didn't bother with underwear," Brian said.

"All the better," the blond murmured and his breath so close to Brian's exposed cock tickled Brian, making him reach out and sink his fingers in Justin's hair inching him forward.

And Brian got that. Got this. They were going to act tonight; pretend to be people in love...

It was a lie what they were going to do. It should be wrong, but when Brian looked down at Justin, he couldn't bring himself to tell him to stop and get out. He smirked. Justin was good.

'_Sneaky little shit_,' Brian found himself thinking. '_He is distracting me knowing that I'm not going to stop him even knowing that he wants to pretend we are someone else.' _

But then he remembered Justin's words '_Before all that, I had a crush on you. I need to get away before it gets too much_…' and when Brian's eyes locked with the deep blue eyes of the man on his knees in front of him, he wondered if they were really going to pretend.


	7. Chapter 7

Having been partially conscious of what he was doing, didn't mean that Justin wouldn't have freaked out once he had woken up to find himself in his ex-co-star's bed, naked and sore.

"Shit," he whispered. He glanced once again at the man lying on the other side of the bed and then got up. He looked around for his clothes and dressed in record time before quickly slipping out of the loft. He took a moment to collect himself as soon as he was standing outside the metal door and then took running up the stairs until he was in his own loft.

"Think, Justin and don't freak out!" he told himself out loud but it didn't really have the effect he was hoping for. Before he could rationalize what he was doing, he had turned on his computer and was booking a flight for Berkeley. So he was running, what was the big deal? He wasn't obliged to stay and have a talk about what had happened or give time to Brian to remember that he had confessed his crush the night before only to run out of his bed in the morning like a teenager.

Balancing his phone between his head and his shoulder, Justin started running around the loft stuffing his bag with as many things as he could.

"_Hello?_" a sleepy voice said from the other end of the line.

"It's me!" Justin whispered. "I'm coming over for the rest of the summer."

"_Wait_," more lucid, the male shoot up in bed. "_You can't just come over. I have a life, you know?_"

"Yeah well, I'm coming, like it or not." And then Justin hang up.

Miles away, barely awake enough to process what was happening, Mark sighed and leaned back on his bed.

"What's going on?"

"He's coming over." His bed partner mumbled something before getting out of bed.

"I won't be around if he's here. Last time was awful enough."

Mark nodded and covered his face with a pillow wondering how much time he'd have before the shit hit the fun.

If there was a thing Justin was sure about, was how much different him and his brother were. Mark was tanned, muscular, taller and could actually sing good enough to have a CD out on the market and he had a boyfriend that was gorgeous, was an amazing actor and dancer and could sing even better than Mark could ever dream of.

But they were similar too; Mark was older than Justin, but they both looked younger and even though his older brother was more beautiful than him, they were both very good looking in a totally different way, they were both actors (even though Mark usually landed roles of jocks or men and Justin of teenagers and misfits) and both had been disowned by Daddy Dearest because of their lifestyle.

Growing up, they had never had the same friends because where Justin was shy and grumpy, Mark was easy going and friendly but despite what everyone could think, they were actually pretty close. Which was why every time something didn't go as planned Justin would go running to his brother even though he was perfectly aware of the fact that he was old enough to start facing things.

Sighing, the blond actor took off his sunglasses and looked around the airport trying to spot his brother; it didn't take long.

Soon enough a tall man, with his usually shaved head, made his way towards him. He was wearing an old pair of jeans, the t-shirt of a band and black sunglasses. When he was standing right in front of Justin, he sighed heavily. "For your information, you're costing me a week of wild sex."

The shorter man rolled his eyes and gave his bag at his brother that took it mumbling something that the blond couldn't really hear. "I'm sure that it's not that bad."

"You think? When you called I was with Chris and he told me that he won't be around as long as you are which means, no sex until you're around. God, it's like we're back in high school."

"Oh shut up!" They walked out of the airport and towards Mark's black SUV. Justin waited for them both to be inside the car before speaking again. "I will talk to him."

"Last time you told him that he had a girly voice and that his character was annoying."

"And he told me that mine was insipid," Justin retorted, making his brother roll his eyes.

"You two are so childish when you're around each other."

"Considering that he's twenty, I can see why he acts so..."

"Stop right there," Mark cut him off angrily. "Don't talk about him like that. He's so talented and..."

"Yeah, yeah I know." Justin waved his hand up in the air dismissively. "My point is that he's younger than you and me, and he's your co-star. It won't work and then..."

"Can't we not have this conversation for the millionth time?"

The two brothers sighed at the same time and then Mark turned on the stereo making clear that he wasn't going to talk until they reached their destination. Because of the traffic, they took almost a hour to reach the older actor's place. Still without talking, they reached the apartment on the last floor and went inside.

Mark dropped Justin's bag on the couch. "You're going to sleep on the couch."

"For all my visit?"

"Yes, so you will know that you have to leave soon."

The blond rolled his eyes. "Geez, thanks a lot, Bro."

"Listen, why don't you tell me what happened?" Mark asked, heading into the kitchen and starting the coffee.

"It's Brian."

"What did he do this time?"

"Nothing." Justin replied honestly sitting down at the table in the little kitchen. "Is he really going to stay away?" he asked, referring to Chris.

"Yes. He's a stubborn little shit," he replied, smiling a little.

"God, don't sound so in love. It's sickening."

"Just tell me what's wrong so we can fix it and ship you back to Pittsburgh."

"I slept with him."

Mark arched an eyebrow and then smiled smugly. "Excuse me, could you say that again?"

"C'mon..."

"You always told me that sleeping with a co-start or date a co-star was like the stupidest thing you could ever do and now you did it? This is great. I'll have to call Chris."

"I..." Justin sighed trailing off and shoved his hand in his hair. "Can you take this seriously?"

"Ok. Why did you do it?" Mark asked, sitting down across from his brother.

"He's hot and I wanted him. We're not working together anymore so it was perfect."

"Then why are you here? You left your job because you couldn't stand him anymore and now you fucked with him and then run away? It looks like you're freaking out which means that it wasn't just sex for you."

"When did you become so wise?"

"Listen," the older man started, ignoring the sarcastic question of his brother. "Why did you run away?"

"Because I wasn't ready to face the consequences and because I know that this won't change anything and I like him, I've for a long time now which is why I was a complete asshole with him most of the time and..."

"What is this? Kindergarten?"

Justin rolled his eyes. "I don't want to face this thing now. So I called you, came here and I have a plan."

"Really?" Mark leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms in front of his chest.

"Yes," the blond nodded. "I'm going to spend here the rest of the summer looking for a new job and then depending on how that goes I'll decide if I want to go back to Pittsburgh or not."

"And if you don't go back? Are you going to call him or..."

"He is going back to Toronto as soon as summer is over and he'll return at Christmas. I will have had enough time to think things over by then."

"If you want to stay here for the rest of the summer, you will have to talk with Chris. There's no way I'm going to abstain from sex for almost three months."

"I'm glad to know that my problems concern you more than your sex life does."

"Whatever."

When the door to the little apartment opened, Justin looked away from the TV and glanced at the young man standing on the threshold with his arms crossed in front of his chest.

"I was watching your show, it's pretty good."

Chris rolled his eyes and came inside closing the door behind him. "Thank you."

"And I heard that you're being candidate for a Golden Glob."

A big smile took over the pale boy's face. "I'm so excited. I still can't believe that it's true."

"Well, you can sing and you can act so..."

"Don't sound so surprised," the man sat down on the couch next to Justin and sighed. "I watched a couple of episodes of the show you're in and it was nice."

"Yeah, not as artistic as yours."

"Vive la différence!" he said smiling before returning serious. "I'm sorry that you quit."

"I wanted new things after five years."

Chris nodded. "It's understandable."

"So..." Justin turned off the TV and turned around to face the other man. "Mark told me that you won't be around if I am..."

"Considering that the last time you came to visit, we ended up almost fighting..."

"Let's forget about that, what do you say? For Mark's sake?"

"He told you that I won't put out until you're here."

"Yeah and you two are living together and I can't kick you out of your home. I could rent something and..."

"He called me and told me why you're here. I guess I should let you be with your brother and..."

"This is your home too, Chris and to tell you the truth, the last thing I want is fighting with you or with anyone else for that matter."

The two men looked at each other for a few moments before the dark-haired one nodded. "Then I guess that as long as you're comfortable sleeping on the couch, you can stay."

"Thank you."

Chris nodded and picked up the remote control and turned on the TV. "Let's watch something else."

They settled on the couch in silence and after a few minutes, Justin handed the bowl with the pop-corn to Chris.

* * *

When he opened his eyes, somehow, Brian already knew that Justin wasn't going to be in bed next to him, it wasn't really a sixth sense or anything, but more the knowledge that they were more alike than they'd ever admit and if the roles where reversed, he would have done the same.

So he decided that he wasn't going to think about it too much but simply wait for the blond to come around and talk to him, act like an adult. The disappointment came when after two weeks Justin was still nowhere in sight and it wasn't just that they kept on missing each other, but it was pretty obvious that the blond was out of town. Before he could talk himself out of it, he called Cynthia who called Daphne and asked where Justin was. No one seemed to know and after a night of fucking everything in sight and drinking until he couldn't see straight, Brian decided that he wasn't going to think about the blond for the rest of the summer.

But no matter what he told himself and how many times Michael had told him that it wasn't in his style to think so much about someone, he couldn't put the blond completely out of his mind.

When he was at Babylon dancing, he was pressed up against young blonds; when he was in the backroom giving someone the ride of their lives, it was a pale man he'd picture with blond soft hair and blazing blue eyes. He was tired of the routine but he didn't know what to do.

Then, as fast as whatever the fuck he had with Justin had started and ended, summer rolled to an end and with it his holidays.

He had the ticket for his flight back to Toronto and the suitcase ready; twenty-four hours and he would be back in the cold Canada pretending to be in love with some stupid and shallow blond. He couldn't wait!

When morning finally came, Brian dragged himself to the airport covering his tired eyes with big black sunglasses that were made for stars in need of covering the signs of a night of revelries. He sat down and waited for his flight. He was reading a magazine with the latest adventures of Lindsay Lohan when he saw them.

A tall, tanned, handsome man with his head shaved and Justin, laughing while they carried their bags towards the exit of the airport. They stopped walking and waited for another man that looked even younger than Justin and together, they walked out of the airport.

For a moment Brian was stunned and kept asking himself what the hell he had just seen but then his pride kicked in and when, a couple of moments later they called for his flight, he got up and swore to himself that Justin Taylor was out of his life forever.

When he glanced back for an instant before handing his ticket to the hostess, he told himself that it wasn't to look for Justin.


	8. Chapter 8

_A/N: Can you believe it? A new chapter! I'm sorry it took me this long. I kind of lost the inspiration for this, but I have the outline for all the chapters wrote down so all I have to do is write the actual chapters. I hope to get it down quickly this time. **There were going to be 15 chapters, but the 8****th**** one was too short so I added it to the 7****th****. So you should definitely going to read the last part of the 7****th**** chapter to get what happened before this.** Thank you for whom reviewed this story and read it even if it wasn't update until now, it really meant a lot to me. I hope you enjoy this chapter and that I didn't lose my touch with Queer as Folk._

**From Set to Reality**

**Chapter Eight**

Having to adapt to a new co-star wasn't easy for Brian. Fans seemed to just fell in love with Joseph Cooper while Brian pretty much hated everything about him. The new actor was young and thought he was the best thing to ever happen on TV and wouldn't accept advices from anyone and it drove Brian mad.

The fact was that no one seemed to want to listen to him and, truth to be told, the way he had treated Justin for years made everyone sure that Brian was just being Brian and that he didn't really have a problem with Joseph.

The months spent shooting were some of the hardest of his life. He couldn't pretend to want to fuck Joseph as much as he was able to pretend with Justin. He was pretty sure that his acting was the worst ever and sometimes he wondered why he still had a job.

When the Christmas holidays finally arrived, Brian didn't spare a moment thinking about the fact that going back to Pittsburgh meant running into Justin quite possibly. He booked the first plane out with no regrets.

Having a new co-star meant focusing more and the only good thing that came out of it, was that besides those moments when he could notice how Joseph was different from Justin, he had made good on his promise to forget about Justin.

He knew that going back to Pittsburgh was going to change that.

When he finally arrived to his Loft, he put all his bags in the elevator and, while it was moving upwards, he felt finally able to relax for the first time since he had gone back to Toronto. While the elevator passed the floor under his, Brian peeked through the bars without really thinking about it and saw the metal door of Justin's loft sliding open and that same tanned man he had seen in the airport with Justin, walking out.

"I'm going to buy cigarettes, Jus," the man called out before closing the door behind him and jogging down the stairs.

Brian was caught between being happy that Justin hadn't moved out from the floor under his, and feeling like he had been played. He shook his head telling himself that it was time to really put all this thing in the past. He was going to avoid Justin as much as possible, and now that they didn't work together anymore, it was going to be easier, just like it had been in the last few months.

**FSTR**

"I don't like this new kid playing Timothy." Emmett shouted to be heard over the music. He took a sip from his Cosmo and shook his head. "He's way too young and not hot enough."

"He's hot alright," Ted said, "but I know what's Brian's problem." He looked at Brian, smiling challenging. "It was like you were married with him, after all those years spent working together, you two were like in a relationship and then suddenly, you got dumped."

"Shut the fuck up, Theodore," Brian told him. He downed his drink and turned to face his friends. "You guys don't get it. It's work. I don't get who's working with me, okay? Get your stupid cheesy ideas out of your heads." He paused and frowned. "But that Joseph guy is a pain in the ass."

Michael laughed. "And we all know how much you don't like that kind of pain."

Brian rolled his eyes but touched Michael's glass with his own and raised an eyebrow. "You can say that again. Now, if you boys will excuse me, I have some asses to get acquainted with."

"Will he ever grow up?" Ted asked, shaking his head and finishing his water.

"Not if he can help it," Michael answered and Emmett nodded from over the rim of his glass.

**FSTR**

A few hours later, Brian stumbled inside his building. He could still hear the pumping of the Babylon's music in his ears and he realized that getting drunk right away after months, wasn't exactly the brightest idea he could have.

He got inside the elevator and pressed the button to get to his floor. This time, when the elevator passed the floor under his, he kept his eyes closed. He didn't want to think about it. If Justin didn't care, then he didn't either.

**FSTR**

Brian spent the two weeks he had off, with Gus, his friends, and at Babylon. He didn't drink as much as the first night until he only had two days left before he had to go back. He didn't know exactly what made him drink that much that night, but not even Michael was able to get him to stop.

He didn't fuck his way through Babylon's population though. When he felt he was drunk enough to not remember which day it was, he called a taxi and went home. He didn't really think about it before pressing the button for Justin's floor but once the elevator stopped, he walked up to the blond's door and knocked repeatedly until the metal door slid open.

"What..." The words died on Justin's lips and he quickly stepped outside his loft and closed the door behind him. "I didn't know you were back." He took one look at Brian and shook his head. "Keep it down, alright?"

Brian laughed. "Of course. Wouldn't want your boyfriend to find out we fucked outside the set."

Justin frowned. "Boyfriend? What boyfriend?"

"That tall, dark and handsome you're keeping hidden in your loft." Brian swayed a little and put his hand up on the brick wall to keep himself from falling down on his butt.

"I don't have a boyfriend, Brian, and even if I did, it still wouldn't be your business." Justin crossed his arms in front of his chest and blew his bands out of his eyes. He looked up into Brian's hazel eyes and sighed. "What do you want?"

"You're a fucking liar, Taylor." His words were all slurred and it took him a few moments to get his thoughts in check.

"What the hell are you talking about Brian? I never lied to you."

"You told me that you had a crush on me, you seduced me and then disappeared just like that." He snapped his fingers right in front of Justin's face who took a step back.

"I'm not a liar. I just decided that since you were going back I wanted a new start. It was like, doing it to get it out, you know?" He shrugged, the lie burning his tongue. He looked away. "It was better I left so we could just move on from the awkwardness and..."

"Who's that guy? I saw him walking out of your loft and you were with him and another guy at the airport when I left."

"It's really none of your business, Brian, but he's my brother and the guy you saw with us is his boyfriend. And now, if you don't mind, go to sleep and stop acting like the jealous boyfriend."

Justin stared at him for a moment. He had kidded himself into thinking that fucking with him had got Brian out of his system, but the truth was that he wanted more, that now that he had the other man in front of him, it was hard to keep his distance and not jump him.

Finally, he shook his head and turned around ready to walk back inside his loft. He felt a hand closing around his elbow, spinning him around and then he found himself pressed up against the door, one of Brian's hands keeping a firm old of his arm while the other closed around his hip, keeping him firmly pushed against the door.

Brian attached his mouth to Justin's before the blond could push him away and it was hard for Justin to remember what he was supposed to do. When Brian pushed himself against Justin just as his tongue sneaked his way inside Justin's mouth, Justin felt his hands sliding up Brian's arms until they were resting around his neck.

He kissed back as hard as Brian was kissing him and he found himself lost in the memories of their night together. It was the sound of something falling in the loft behind him that pulled Justin out of the moment. He used his hands to push Brian away and it was hard to get Brian to stop trying to attach his neck with kisses.

"I don't get it. I don't fucking get it," Brian said, pulling away. "The new kid playing Timothy, is a little shit just like you are, and he's annoying and so were you and he drives me insane, just like you did. But the moment the cameras are rolling, I can't pretend to care about him. I can't pretend to want to fuck him and this is me," he said, his voice raising. "I'm Brian fucking Kinney. I always want to fuck... except him."

Justin told himself not to feel glad to hear that. He had told himself more than a million times that he wasn't going to keep thinking about Brian, that he wasn't going to give into his feelings again because it was useless. "Maybe I'm a better actor that he is and you're a shitty actor and you were only able to act with me because I brought the best out of you."

Brian laughed. "That's something so typical for you to say."

"Good night, Brian," Justin told him. He turned around this time opening the door quickly so Brian couldn't try to grad him again.

"So this is it?"

"This is what?" Justin asked, glancing at him from over his shoulder.

"Whatever the hell happened that night. It was just getting it out of our systems?" And wasn't that fucking ironic? Brian thought to himself, he was acting like he cared, like he was someone else.

Justin just shrugged. "Yes." He walked inside his loft and closed the door before Brian could say anything else.


	9. Chapter 9

After talking with Justin and knowing for sure that it hadn't mean anything to him, Brian was sure that he could just pack up his bags, go back to Toronto and pick up his life right where he left it off. It turned out that when people say 'easier said than done,' they know what they were talking about because if anything, now that he was back in Toronto, Brian was even less in contact with his co-star than he was before, and that was saying something.

"Brian, the boss wants to see you." Despite the smile on her face, Cynthia looked concerned and it wasn't hard to figure out why.

Twenty minutes later, Brian found himself sitting across from the director who was smiling somewhat apologetically. "You have to understand, this is not easy."

Brian snorted. "Really?"

"After Justin left it was hard for all of us, the ratings dropped, you were kind of out of it, but we picked ourselves up, dusted off and worked harder." Connor took a deep breath, crossed his hands over the desk and stopped trying to smile. "Putting another new face is risky, but this is simply not working. We think that it would be best to part our ways. It's better for us because we won't have to waste any more time and for you because you will be free to look for new exciting opportunities."

Brian shook his head and got up to his feet. "This stupid fucking show is going to sink faster than a wooden boat full of holes." For a moment the thought that he could have come up with something better crossed his mind, but then Brian opted for storming out of the office as if it was still him the important one despite having just lost his job.

"He fired you, didn't he?" Cynthia handed him a coffee and didn't try to smile. "Well, that was a long time coming."

Brian just glared at her before heading towards his trailer. "It's all Justin's fault."

"Sure it is, boss," Cynthia said, sarcasm heavy in her voice. "After all, I'm sure he knew that once he left you wouldn't have been able to act."

"Shut up!" Brian quickened his steps and reached his trailer in half the time it would usually take him. Once inside, he got his suitcase and started throwing his clothes inside. "I'm going to go and leave them all to fail." He snorted and added, "As if this ridiculous show can survive on bad writing alone."

Cynthia didn't comment on anything her boss was saying but followed Brian's every move, taking everything Brian had thrown in the suitcase and folding it up before putting them again inside.

"So, what's the plan now?" She finally asked.

Brian sat down heavily on the bed and put his head in his hands. "I don't fucking know."

Cynthia sighed deeply and sat down next to him, rubbing his thigh to calm him down. "I say we get back to Pittsburgh and take some time off to really think about the next step."

It took a long uncomfortable silence before Brian finally nodded.

* * *

It wasn't easy to go back to Pittsburgh without knowing when he'd leave again. Ever since he first left, he hadn't been back there if not for short periods of time and he didn't want to have to change that. The last thing he wanted was to fall back into old routines of meeting at the Liberty Diner, eating with the guys and then leave for Babylon. He had seen better and bigger things and he wasn't going to give those up.

Brian went through each day repeating to himself, 'this is temporary.' It didn't really work but there wasn't much else he could do.

He avoided Justin because he didn't know if the blond knew and if he did know, then Brian didn't want to have awkward talks about what he was going to do next or how good it had worked out for Justin to leave the show.

Three weeks after he had moved back to his loft on Tremmont, Justin knocked at his door. He had a six pack of beers in one hand and a bag full of Thai food in the other. "I thought we could watch the new guy and make fun of him," he said when Brian opened the door.

He wondered if they were going to try being friends without even talking about it. He pushed away all the questions, stepped aside and waited for Justin to walk inside before closing the heavy metal door and follow the blond to the couch.

Justin busied himself by pulling all the containers of food out of the bag while Brian simply sat down next to him and watched him.

"Emmett told me you got fired," Justin commented casually after he had settled everything on the coffee table. "And you were avoiding me so I didn't know how you were handing it." He turned to look at Brian and smiled a little. "Is this okay?"

"Whatever."

Brian sat down on the floor and started looking through the containers pretending not to notice Justin rolling his eyes.

They watched together the new episode of the show and made fun of their substitutes.

"The hardest part was kissing that guy and pretend to be into it," Brian commented between sips of his beer. "Maybe pretending to be into the sex was worse."

Neither of them said anything for a moment and then Brian added, "It was just easier with you."

"That's because you wanted to fuck me for real."

"Joseph isn't even gay, Justin," Brian sounded as if that was the really important thing. He looked at Justin with a crooked smile and leaned a little bit in closer, his eyes following the way Justin's lips stretched into a smile. "I couldn't even imagine fucking the guy."

"Then you're a bad actor, Brian." Justin's voice sounded lower than usual but he didn't lean closer and Brian got the message. They weren't going to happen again, no matter how much he wanted to push Justin until he was lying on his back and then just start kissing him until Justin was a begging mess.

He didn't stop staring and, after a few more moments, Justin diverted his gaze, blushing and biting his lower lip. Brian couldn't help the slow smile that broke on his face. It was harder in that moment not to reach out and touch Justin, run his thumb over those lips he knew were just as soft and yielding as they looked.

"I should go," Justin whispered and Brian was pretty sure he didn't really want to leave. "Before it gets strange all over again." He took a deep breath and looked again into the hazel eyes staring at him. "I want to be your friend Brian."

Brian couldn't stop the snort from escaping him. He pulled back and stared at the floor. "I don't fuck my friends."

"But we weren't friends back then. We could be now."

"Why?"

Justin shrugged and got up. "I don't know. I kind of like talking to you from time to time and nothing between us could ever work because we don't want the same things. I'd like to be your friend but if that can't happen, then I'll just get used to limit myself to a polite, "hello, Brian," whenever we ran into each other." He walked over to the door and slid it open glancing at Brian one last time. "We will have to see each other quite often now that you've moved back here, it would make things easier."

It sounded like the speech the director had given him before firing him and Brian hated it. But he was still not one to run after anyone and if Justin was really so stubborn about all of this, then he wasn't going to loose anymore of his time about it. He carefully avoided thinking about how many times before he had come to that same conclusion.

"Friends, alright," he said. He looked at Justin in time to catch a bright smile breaking on the blond's face before he closed the door. Brian shook his head and went back to watching the TV thinking that it would have been a better show if it had been about them instead of those two losers.

* * *

It was a month later when Justin came knocking early in the morning waving something so close to Brian's nose that at first he didn't even understand what he was seeing.

"I got a contract! For a movie! I always thought I'd get stuck to roles on the TV but now I'm going to be in a movie, Brian!" He hugged Brian, tight and briefly before he was back at looking the happiest Brian had ever seen him. "When I auditioned I never thought I'd be right for the part, but Brett, that's the director by the way, called me and said I got the part!" He stopped and handed Brian the script. "You have to help me run the lines because I have to leave in two days." He took a deep breath and said, "Can you believe this is happening, Brian?"

"Leaving?" Brian found himself asking. He walked to the kitchen counter and poured two cups of coffee glancing at the clock on the wall and deciding that it was still too fucking early for all this.

"Yeah, I'm moving to Los Angeles for the next six months."

Brian pushed away everything he felt in that moment because when he agreed to be Justin's friend he had implicitly agreed to stop thinking about him in any romantic or sexual way. "That's… that's great."

The smile vanished from Justin's face and he put down the script. "Why aren't you happy?"

"It's just early okay?"

"It's almost noon, Brian."

"Whatever." He pushed a mug towards Justin and picked up his own before walking over to the couch and sitting down. He waited for Justin to do the same before he said, "How big is your role?"

"I'm not the leading actor but I have lots of lines. This is my big dream coming true."

"In fucking Los Angeles," Brian muttered in his mug and he knew that he should be happy but all he could focus on was Justin leaving and he was surprised that he still cared that much. While thoughts of the blond had never been that far away from his mind, he didn't realize that he'd actually care a lot if suddenly Justin wasn't around as much. "Congratulations, Sunshine."

Justin shook his head and got up. "I thought you'd be happy for me."

"I am."

"No, you're not. Is it because you still haven't had any offer?"

"I don't want to fight with you over this stupid thing. I'm happy, alright?" He grabbed the script and said, "So, where do I have to read?"

"You know what, it doesn't matter." Justin snatched the script back and walked over to the door. "I'll see you in six months maybe then you'll be a better friend."

And Brian really didn't know how things could have gotten screwed up all over again. He sighed, leaned against the couch and closed his eyes.


End file.
